


Baby, It's Cold Outside

by aliciameade



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Cold Weather, F/F, Fluff, Girls Kissing, Making Out, Merry Pitchmas Gift Exchange 2018, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-19 18:12:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17006646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aliciameade/pseuds/aliciameade
Summary: Maybe venturing into the woods during questionable winter weather wasn't one of Chloe's best ideas.But even if she could go back in time, she wouldn't change it for the world.





	Baby, It's Cold Outside

**Author's Note:**

> Written for 53eggs and the Merry Pitchmas Gift Exchange 2018!

* * *

 

“I’m compelled to reiterate my earlier statement that we don’t know what we’re doing.”

 

Chloe squeezed Beca’s gloved hand and kept walking. “How hard can chopping down a tree be?”

 

“Have you ever actually _used_ an ax?”

 

Chloe considered the heavy object resting against her shoulder while she and Beca trudged through ankle-deep snow in the small forest a few miles outside of the city. “The ax is just for show. We have a saw, too.”

 

“Then let me rephrase: have you ever actually _used_ a saw?”

 

“It can’t be that hard. Put the sharp part against the trunk, saw back and forth. Done.”

 

One of Atlanta’s rare winter storms had blown through two days earlier and blanketed the city in more than a foot of snow. It had put Chloe in instant Christmas Mode (she was already, it _was_ the first week of December, but it definitely heightened it) and watching the city turn magical in the snowfall had led to her irrefutable decision that as co-captains, she and Beca would fetch and bring home to the Bellas’ house a real and true Christmas tree from a forest and not from a mall parking lot.

 

“So, assuming you can chop down a whole tree, you also think the two of us are going to be able to carry it out of here? We’ve been walking for at least half an hour.”

 

“Are you saying we’re two weak little girls who can’t handle this without a big strong man?” Chloe teased.

 

“What I’m saying is that my weak ass doesn’t want to have to try.”

 

“Don’t worry, Becs. I read all about how to haul it out of here. That’s what the tarp and rope are for.” She let go of Beca’s hand to pat the backpack of supplies she’d all but forced on Beca after parking in a turnout along the highway.

 

“So I’m going to be a sled dog? Great.”

 

Chloe laughed and gave Beca’s beanie-covered head a playful pat before taking her hand again. It didn’t exactly make it easier to navigate the uneven ground to have neither hand free for balance, but she liked when Beca let her hold her hand, and she was letting her do it now.

 

She also liked that despite her ongoing, almost nonstop protests, Beca agreed to their outing without ever explicitly doing so. The whole time they packed snacks and the whole time they were in Home Depot buying gear and the whole time they packed up Chloe’s car and the whole drive Beca had rejected the concept. Yet she was there with Chloe, still rejecting it even as she walked hand-in-hand through the snow-covered forest. She liked that Beca, far more often than not, ultimately agreed to do most anything Chloe asked her to do.

 

It was starting to snow again, nothing much, just a bit of a flurry, but it was so magical and rare for her that it made Chloe giddy. She tried to catch a snowflake on her tongue as they walked and Beca must have found her silence noticeable.

 

“What are you doing, weirdo?”

 

“I want to catch one on my tongue,” she said before trying again.

 

Beca stopped in her tracks and their handhold jerked Chloe to a halt. “You can’t catch one like that. They’re going to melt before they hit your tongue. Hold your breath when you do it.” She waved her free hand toward Chloe to try again.

 

“And you know this how?” Chloe said before taking Beca’s advice and succeeding, feeling the tiny zip of cold touch her outstretched tongue.

 

“Not all of us grew up on a beach.” Beca watched her catch another one and then nodded. “You good? Let’s find a tree; I don’t want it to start getting dark.”

 

“Okay!” Chloe looked ahead of them and spotted what looked to be a young, small pine tree in the distance. “I think I see one. Come on!”

 

* * *

 

It turned out that the tree in the distance was a lot more distant than Chloe had estimated. It took another thirty minutes to pick their way through the snow and terrain, but the tree was the height she estimated they could manage to carry on their own and it didn’t have any ugly or missing branches.

 

“It’s perfect,” Chloe said as she propped her ax against a nearby tree to strip off her coat. It was still snowing—maybe a bit more steadily than when it began—but it wasn’t super cold and she was nice and warm after their hike. She heard Beca whistle a few seconds later and turned around to find her sitting on a log she’d dusted off. “What?”

 

“Did you steal that from me?” Beca said with a wave of her hand at Chloe.

 

Chloe looked down at the red and black flannel shirt she’d swiped from Beca’s closet that morning to pair with her jeans and knee-high snow boots. “I borrowed it.”

 

“You know that wearing flannel doesn’t automatically make you a lumberjack, right?”

 

Beca was still smiling so Chloe didn’t take offense. “If that was the case, you’d have built us a log cabin by now.” She laughed at Beca’s clumsily-offered middle finger, the brunt of its harshness lost to the hilarity of Beca’s big gloves. “And it makes me feel festive,” she said with a defiant raise of her chin. She grabbed her ax and swung it up to rest on her shoulder again. “Now, take a picture of me being a sexy lumber-woman before I get all gross and sweaty.”

 

“Wouldn’t want to miss putting this on Instagram,” Beca said mostly to herself as she pulled off her gloves to start rifling through the pockets of her coat. Then the pockets of her jeans. Then the pockets of her coat again. “Shit. I think I left my phone in the car.”

 

“That’s okay; use mine,” Chloe said as she stomped through the snow with enough gusto to send a spray of it up and into Beca’s lap to make her shriek and leap to her feet to brush it off. Chloe waited until she was done before grabbing her phone from her rear jeans pocket to hand it to Beca.

 

“You left your music on,” Beca pointed out somewhat unnecessarily when “A Holly Jolly Christmas” started blaring. It must have been muffled in her pocket and under her coat to have not noticed it during their walk to the tree.

 

“Leave it on,” Chloe said. “It’s festive, too.”

 

Beca rolled her eyes but smiled. “Okay, go stand by your tree.”

 

Chloe happily strode back to the tree and posed with her ax, insisting on Beca capturing several poses. “Okay, now you; get over here.”

 

Another eye roll but Beca did as she asked and joined her. “I’m not posing with the tree.”

 

Chloe took her phone back. “You’re not; you’re posing with me.” She flipped the camera to selfie mode and held it up. “Say, ‘Merry Christmas!’”

 

For all Beca’s sighing and pouting about being in photos and taking selfies, when it came down to it, she always gave in with a smile or a duckface or whatever was being called for at the time.

 

“Merry Christmas!” they both said, Beca’s arms stretched out behind them to frame the part of the tree that she could fit in the photo. Chloe snapped a couple and then turned and pressed her lips to Beca’s cheek to snap one more.

 

Those were usually her favorite because Beca always looked so shocked in them, her nose scrunched up in that adorable way Chloe loved, sometimes mouth open in protest or closed in an exaggerated grimace.

 

When Chloe looked at this one, Beca was none of those things. She was still smiling as she had been before, but her eyes were closed.

 

Chloe immediately set it as her phone’s lock screen.

 

“Okay, get a move on. I want to see you show this poor, defenseless tree who’s boss.” Beca took the phone again and even swatted Chloe’s rear end as she walked away.

 

It made Chloe yelp and blush because Beca didn’t really do things like that. She didn’t even have a good response, as caught off-guard as she was, so instead, she set her ax back down and followed Beca to grab the bow saw she’d brought to actually do the job.

 

She grabbed her jacket, too, to kneel on so her jeans wouldn’t get wet in the snow and set to work.

 

It was easy. Well, it was easy at first. It was a brand new saw that started cutting through the trunk like a hot knife through butter, but after a few clean strokes, it started fighting her.

 

“How’s it going?” Beca asked from behind her. “Man, it’s really starting to snow. Need help?”

 

Chloe expected there to be sarcasm to her tone but there was none. “Can you grab the tree and pull it that way?” she said with a point. “Away from me? But don’t stand there; stand to the side so it doesn’t fall on you.”

 

“Sure.”

 

The tree tilted and it made it easier, but Chloe was a little embarrassed to learn it wasn’t as easy as she imagined it to be. Her bicep and shoulder burned and her back ached from having to bend and twist at a harsh angle while exerting so much force.

 

“Okay, grab the tarp,” she said breathlessly once she was more than halfway through the trunk. She waited for Beca to retrieve the massive sheet of heavy-duty blue plastic and spread it out on the snow.

 

“Now what?”

 

“Can you try pulling it?”

 

She saw the tree bend and heard Beca grunt and then the trunk snapped. They both yelled and jumped back (in Chloe’s case, she fell back on her ass) as it toppled with a crash onto the waiting tarp.

 

“Hey, you did it!” Beca finally said when the second of chaos ended. “Oh, let me…” she said when she noticed Chloe on sitting in the snow and rushed over to help her to her feet. She helped Chloe dust herself off and Chloe tried not to giggle at Beca Mitchell slapping and sweeping snow off her butt. “Good job,” Beca said after a minute with a pat to Chloe’s back. “Now all we have to do is carry this thing, like, two miles out of here.”

 

“Yep, that’s all,” Chloe laughed, body still aching though no longer winded. Her right arm felt like Jell-O. “Help me tie this up and we’ll get out of here.”

 

“Yeah, I don’t like how dark it’s getting,” Beca said with a glance toward the sky.

 

They were as quick about it as they could be, figuring out how to run the long rope through the grommets of the tarp to keep the tree from sliding off when trying to haul it like horses pulling a sleigh.

 

They figured it out, though, and Chloe put her jacket back on and pocketed her phone, bumping up the volume to be heard from her pocket while they both huffed and puffed, ropes over their shoulders as they walked.

 

“I didn’t realize how hard it was coming down,” she said as she squinted through the snow to see more than a few feet in front of her.

 

“Me, neither,” Beca said and was quiet for a moment. Then she said, “Uh, I can’t see our tracks from where we came in anymore.” Beca sounded nervous.

 

Chloe glanced down and noticed the same. “That’s okay; we walked in a straight line from the car to the tree so we just walk a straight line back out.”

 

“But what if our straight line isn’t going the right direction?”

 

Chloe didn’t like what Beca was suggesting, because Beca was suggesting they were getting lost in a forest at dusk during a winter storm. “I’m sure we’re fine. This totes looks familiar.”

 

She couldn’t see enough to know if anything really did look familiar, which meant Beca wouldn’t know she was possibly false in her reassurance.

 

The new snow was heavy and wet and they were both struggling to pull their payload through it. It was impossible not to notice that the snow they’d walked in through was now almost to the top of her boots. She glanced at Beca, cheeks red and her black beanie covered in snow. She looked nervous but determined as they kept on until Chloe finally called for them to pause.

 

“We should have been to the road by now, right?” Beca said, breathing hard with her hands on her hips as she arched to stretch her back. “Maybe we should check Google Maps? Make sure we’re at least close?”

 

Chloe nodded and looped her ropes over her wrist so as to not drop them and pulled her phone from her jacket pocket. She couldn’t help but notice it was now silent, no longer blasting Christmas carols. She doesn’t remember the music stopping; they’d both been too focused on walking to have the energy to sing along. She stripped off her glove to unlock it but the screen remained black.

 

“Um…”

 

She pressed the home button again.

 

Nothing. Her heart started to race.

 

She pressed the side button and held it, hoping it would boot up but she was met with what she’d already feared: a big, red dead battery symbol before it went blank again.

 

“What? What’s wrong?”

 

“My phone died,” Chloe said as she put it back in her pocket. “Are you sure you don’t have yours on you somewhere?”

 

She saw a look of fear wash over Beca’s face before she dumped the backpack to the ground to start digging frantically through all of its zippers and pockets. “It’s not here. It’s not here, Chloe. What are we going to do? It’s getting dark.”

 

“Okay, let’s not panic,” Chloe said, definitely feeling herself starting to panic inside. “Let’s be quiet for a minute and see if we can hear any traffic. Then we’ll know if we’re close to the road.”

 

Beca nodded and they strained to hear but Chloe couldn’t hear anything but the wind that was starting to pick up.

 

“Please tell me you hear something?” Beca asked, voice tight.

 

“Nothing.”

 

“Chloe…” Beca sounded like she was trying not to cry and there were not going to be any Beca tears on her watch. Beca almost never cried and she wasn’t going to be the cause of it.

 

“It’s fine,” Chloe said as she dropped her ropes and pulled Beca into a hug. “We’ll find a spot to wait out the snow until we can see enough to find our way out of here.”

 

“You want to wait it out?!” Beca said as she shoved herself out of Chloe’s arms. “Are you crazy?! We can’t stay here; we need to find help!”

 

“No, we need to find shelter. I’ve seen every episode of ‘Bear Grylls,’ and—”

 

“You also read how to cut down a tree on the internet and look where we are!”

 

Chloe recoiled as though she’d been slapped. “I checked the weather before we left and it said the whole night was supposed to be clear! It’s not my fault we’ve had two freak storms!”

 

“But it’s your fault we don’t have a phone! You just _had_ to listen to music and feel festive!”

 

“You didn’t even remember to _bring_ your phone!” Chloe yelled back before covering her mouth in regret. “No. I’m sorry, I don’t want to fight. Please, let’s not fight right now.”

 

Beca’s hands were covering her face and when she finally dropped them, her cheeks were redder than ever, now from anger in addition to exertion and maybe even the cold. It did feel chillier than it had earlier now that they weren’t pulling a tree through the woods.

 

“Fine,” Beca said flatly. “What did Bear Grylls say you’re supposed to do when you’re lost in a forest at night in a snowstorm?”

 

Chloe was grateful she was listening. “Find shelter. We need to stay dry and as warm as we can. Help me dump the tree off of the tarp; we can use it.”

 

She heard Beca muttering to herself as they undid their mess of knots and twists until they worked together to get the tree off the tarp. Beca looped the rope up so she could sling it over her shoulder with her backpack while Chloe rolled and folded the plastic sheeting to carry it under her arm, ax in her other hand. She didn’t need it for any more photo ops, but they might need it for something else.

 

“Now what?”

 

“Let’s walk around and see if we can find a good spot.”

 

“And what are we looking for in a good spot?”

 

Chloe started walking and heard Beca follow. “Flat and between a couple of trees close enough together to tie this up between them,” she said with a shifting of the tarp. “We need to sit on it, too, so they’ll have to be pretty close so we have enough to do that.”

 

“Would a cave be a good spot?”

 

“A cave would be a great spot, but I didn’t see any when we—”

 

“What about that one?”

 

Chloe stopped and turned, then backtracked until she was next to Beca. She had to squint but she saw it where Beca was pointing, a dark spot in the middle of an outcrop of rocks. “Beca!” She grabbed her best friend and hugged her tightly. “Come on, let’s check it out!”

 

They hustled the few yards until they were standing at the entrance of a small cave in a pile of rocks on the side of a hill. It wasn’t very tall, barely as high as her chest, but there was no snow inside from what she could see, which meant the ground would probably be dry, or dry enough.

 

“This is great,” Chloe said with another hug. “Help me figure out how to hang this to keep out the wind?”

 

Beca swung her backpack off and tossed into the opening. “I swear, if it’s full of spiders, I’m spending the night out here. I’ll take my chances.”

 

“It’s not going to be full of spiders,” Chloe said as she unfurled the tarp and started feeling around in the increasing darkness if there were any smaller rocks she could use to anchor it to hang down. Truth be told, she was pretty sure there were going to be spiders in there; it’s not as though they were in the middle of a long, bitterly cold winter. It had been sixty-five degrees last week.

 

“Liar,” Beca said as she helped until they’d managed to rig the tarp to drape over the entrance and found a couple extra rocks to hold the bottom of it down so the wind wouldn’t blow it. “After you.” Beca held it aside and gestured for Chloe enter.

 

Chloe crouched down and crawled in. It was truly pitch dark inside with the sun down, the snow clouds hiding the moon, and no phone for a flashlight. She felt around blindly and decided she was grateful for that when she heard something small scurry away from her.

 

“Is it okay? You didn’t fall into a pit or anything?”

 

Chloe laughed, relieved that their tense moment earlier had passed and they were back to their usual selves. “No pit. Get in here.” She scooted in until her shoulder hit a rock and she couldn’t go any further. She hoped there was enough room for Beca. Not that she’d mind if they had to get a little...close.

 

She heard Beca fumbling around and the rustle of the tarp and the clink of stone as Beca did her best to seal up the entrance. Then she felt hands bumping and feeling along her leg until Beca settled next to her with a huff.

 

“Hey.” Beca’s voice was startlingly close. “So, how long do you think this storm is going to last?”

 

“Hopefully not much longer.” She turned to try to see Beca but there was nothing. Just black. “But it’s already dark, so I don’t think it matters. We need to stay here until morning so we don’t get lost again.”

 

She felt Beca shift and then heard the zipper of the backpack. “And you laughed when I packed snacks.” Something wrapped in plastic was slapped into her lap.

 

Chloe took off her gloves to pick it up; she felt it, trying to figure out what it was. Some type of candy bar maybe? “What is this?”

 

“It’s either going to be a Snickers or a granola bar. Live dangerously.” There was a tear of plastic, and then, “Damn. Granola bar. Open yours.”

 

Chloe laughed and tore the edge of the wrapper. She could smell the chocolate before it was even to her mouth. “Snickers. Wanna trade?”

 

“Definitely.”

 

They laughed as they searched for each other’s hands in the darkness to swap snacks and then they settled again, leaning against one another. It wasn’t bitter cold, but there was a definite chill in the air that Chloe hoped wouldn’t get much worse.

 

Then again, when Beca wormed her arm under Chloe’s to link their elbows and sit closer, she thought maybe if it got a bit colder, that wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe Beca would warm up her hands for her if she left her gloves off for a while.

 

Beca’s hand idly patted Chloe’s leg. “I seriously cannot believe we’re spending the night in a cave because we got lost in the woods during a storm. This is how horror movies go.”

 

“What horror movie is that?”

 

“Well, _The Blair Witch Project_ , for one. Except for the storm part. And then there’s _The Descent_ which is literally about a bunch of girls deciding it’s safe to go into a cave.”

 

“All the times I’ve heard you say you hate movies, and now you’re going to school me on them?”

 

“Hey, hey, hey,” Beca said defensively. “Horror movies I can make an exception for. They’re predictable, too, but at least they’re entertaining. There’s blood and guts, and someone is always making a really dumb choice to run upstairs instead of out the front door, and there’s usually a hot girl running around half-dressed—”

 

“Beca!” Chloe laughed.

 

“What?”

 

“Are you _objectifying_ women?” It wasn’t as though Chloe ever forgot Beca was attracted to women (it was something that was on her mind daily), but she was so neutral about all people that it was easy to be shocked when she spoke up about finding anyone hot, even more so if that person was a woman.

 

“All I’m saying is that it’s not a bad thing to look at: some girl in a dirty white tank top and yoga pants running for her life.”

 

“That’s...oddly specific,” Chloe said with a nudge. “What movie was that?”

 

“Jennifer Lawrence in _The House at the End of the Street._ ”

 

Chloe laughed at the swiftness of her answer. It seemed the darkness helped to knock a few holes into Beca’s usual wall, so she decided to lean into it and see if she could topple a few more. “Really? Is she your type?”

 

“You could say that,” Beca said with a snort and through what Chloe could hear was a mouth full of the candy bar.

 

“Ew, don’t talk with your mouth full.”

 

“You can’t see me!”

 

“I can hear you!”

 

There were a few more seconds of silence as Beca chewed, and then, “ _Parts_ of her are my type.”

 

Chloe tried not to laugh but couldn’t help it. “So, boobs? Boobs are your thing?”

 

“Yes, ma’am. I am a boob man.”

 

“What do you think of Stacie’s?”

 

“Chloe!” Beca yelled, shoving her with her shoulder. “Gross!”

 

“What?” Chloe laughed. “I think she has great boobs.” She heard Beca sigh and elbowed her. “Well?”

 

“Yeah, I guess they’re pretty good,” Beca grumbled.

 

“What was that? I couldn’t hear you.” Chloe teased.

 

“I said she has good boobs! Okay? Are you happy?”

 

Chloe nodded, then remembered Beca couldn’t see her. “Yeah. But what do you think of mine?” She knew it was risky, but she could play it off as a joke without batting an eyelash.

 

“Dude,” Beca said with a laugh and Chloe felt her shifting next to her, though she didn’t exactly move away. “What?”

 

“I want the boob man’s opinion now that I know I have an expert at my disposal,” Chloe said with an air of formality. “What is your opinion on my boobs?”

 

“They’re...fine,” Beca said and it sounded like she had to grind out the word. But she’d answered.

 

“Just fine?” Chloe pouted. “You like Stacie’s more than mine?”

 

“No, I don’t!” Beca replied with such gusto it seemed to startle them both. “I mean, yours are pretty good.”

 

Chloe was beaming; she was glad Beca couldn’t see or Beca would probably be even more embarrassed by it. “I’ll take it,” she said with a nudge, deciding to quit while she was ahead. “Thank you. For the record, I think you have the best boobs in the house.”

 

There was a long beat of silence before a very embarrassed, “Oh, my God,” huffed next to her.

 

“What?” Chloe said innocently as she turned so her free hand, the one not interlocked with Beca’s arm, could pat along Beca’s leg until it was working up her stomach. “I’ve seen everyone’s. I know what I like, and I like what I’ve seen.”

 

Beca’s hands clamped down over Chloe’s before it could get any higher and Chloe laughed; she’d certainly never touch Beca there without knowing she was okay with it or without it being an obvious joking moment, but right now felt too uncertain to try such a thing.

 

Chloe had to search for a second, finding Beca’s cheek first with her nose, then with her lips to kiss it. “Wanna try to get some sleep?”

 

“I thought you weren’t supposed to sleep if you were stuck in the cold?”

 

“I don’t think it’s going to get cold enough for us to get hypothermia. And there’s always body heat. I remember learning that skin-on-skin contact is best! We might have to get naked.”

 

“Oh, my God, shut up,” Beca said with a shove to Chloe before immediately starting to figure out how to lean against her comfortably.

 

Chloe thought it was a lot like a cat trying to decide where it wanted to lay down, pawing and prodding until it was happy enough. It made her smile.

 

They were quiet for a long time after that. Chloe dozed on and off, woken every time the wind whipped hard at the tarp or if Beca shifted. Her mind kept wandering into dangerous territory, scenarios running through it, all of them involving Beca moaning her name. Chloe knew it was one thing to think about her friend that way when she was alone in bed at night, but it was a very different matter to have those thoughts creeping up on her when Beca was using her shoulder for a pillow.

 

She couldn’t shake them, though, and when she noticed Beca had been awake for a stretch of time, that unruly part of her brain became relentless in its pursuits.

 

It made her turn her head to kiss Beca’s forehead. She heard her stir and sigh and felt the tap of a hand on her leg of acknowledgment. So she kissed it again, in what she thought was probably a different spot. And a third time on Beca’s temple and Beca’s head lifted a little then. Chloe thought maybe it was to get her to stop, but Beca didn’t move away; she only seemed to be making room to allow Chloe to do it.

 

Chloe’s heart raced at that. At the possibilities. She kept going, leaving light kisses along Beca’s hairline until she found her ear. It was her landmark for being able to start moving lower, across her cheek.

 

She could still hear Beca breathing, but now it was shallow and quick and the gloved hand that had been in her lap for hours was starting to squeeze her thigh.

 

It only fueled Chloe. She kissed along her jaw and she felt Beca’s head tilt as though she was trying to direct Chloe, so she followed, dropping light, grazing kiss after kiss on her neck, under her jaw until she was back to her ear which, not even thinking, she caught between her lips for a second. She was starting to move on autopilot; she’d thought about what it would be like to kiss Beca like this countless times and it seemed as though it was going to happen. It already _was_ happening.

 

She reversed her path, kisses drawing closer and closer to the point of Beca’s chin but Chloe slowed when she knew where she was. She could feel Beca’s breath, hear the sound of her tongue wetting her lips, feel the way Beca’s head was tilting, as though searching.

 

“You can kiss me.” It was a whisper in the dark. And it was Beca who said it.

 

It made Chloe’s heart stop to hear those words. Beca knew what she wanted to do. And she was okay with it. Toppled bricks, indeed.

 

Chloe’s first attempt was a bit off-target in the dark, not by much, but the second one...the second one she learned what Beca’s lips really felt like.

 

They were both still for a long moment, lips just touching, until Chloe eased back to rest her forehead against Beca’s.

 

She felt Beca’s gloved hand connect with her shoulder with more force than Beca probably intended, misjudging in the darkness. But then it was gone and she heard a rustling and then it was back, this time warm, bare fingers working their way under the collar of Chloe’s coat to rest against her neck, thumb brushing back and forth under her jaw where, Chloe assumed, she could feel her pulse.

 

She needed to know Beca was okay with this. A single soft kiss was one thing, but Beca touching her...Chloe couldn’t help but ask, “What are we doing?”

 

“Seems like we’re going to make out to stay warm and kill time.” Beca’s tone, no longer a whisper but still hushed, was laced with levity.

 

Her statement made Chloe’s stomach clench. “Are you okay with that?”

 

Chloe felt Beca nod and before she could kiss her again, she was being kissed.

 

A squeak of surprise escaped and she heard Beca chuckle as her kiss grew more firm, more direct and it took Chloe a second or two to process the fact that Beca was kissing her of her own accord in a way that wasn’t a casual peck. Her lips were soft but insistent, pressing to Chloe’s until Chloe realized she probably should kiss her back.

 

When she did, with a tilt of her head and a tiny parting of her lips to meet Beca’s more fully, it was Beca’s turn to react. She didn’t squeak, not really, but there was a definite sound of...Chloe couldn’t quite put her finger on it until she realized what it was.

 

A whimper.

 

Beca had whimpered when Chloe kissed her more properly, not just a press of lips but warm and soft and drawn-out as she took Beca’s bottom lip between hers. Her heart was pounding, mind struggling to comprehend that what was happening was real and not a dream. It was made even more difficult to separate reality from fantasy when she felt Beca moving. She wasn’t sure what she was doing, but she didn’t stop kissing Chloe while she did it.

 

When she stilled again, Chloe realized Beca had turned so they weren’t shoulder-to-shoulder. She let her hands roam, following Beca’s arm from where her hand was at Chloe’s neck until she could slide her hand up the back of Beca’s neck and into her hair. Her beanie stopped her from threading her fingers through as far as she wanted so Chloe pulled it off with her other hand and threaded that one through, too.

 

She heard Beca inhale at the contact and press closer, lips parting and it was Chloe’s turn to whimper when she felt Beca’s tongue graze her bottom lip.

 

Chloe was already on fire and they’d only been kissing for a few seconds, maybe a whole minute or two. She needed to unzip her jacket and kick off her snow boots but she could do neither of those things because Beca’s tongue was slipping further into her mouth.

 

It was happening.

 

She was actually making out with Beca.

 

She couldn’t help but moan at how perfect it felt to run her tongue over Beca’s and feel hers respond in kind. She kept her hands in Beca’s hair, not trusting them to behave without something to hold onto, but she felt Beca’s moving. The one on her neck stayed put but the other was feeling its way down Chloe’s side, from her shoulder to her arm until it was at her hip, then along one thigh only to move to the other and pat it a couple times.

 

In one quick motion, Chloe felt Beca move and settle astride her lap.

 

“Oh, wow,” she said when she broke away from their kiss out of sheer astonishment.

 

“Is this okay?” Beca’s voice was so close; Chloe could feel it on her lips and Beca’s hands, both of them now, framed her neck, thumbs stroking the length of it to make her want to shiver. “It’s just easier to—”

 

Chloe cut her off by finding her lips again.

 

The change of position had knocked Chloe’s hands out of Beca’s hair only for them to find her waist. She wrapped her arms around Beca to tug her closer, Beca kissing her more deeply in kind.

 

Chloe thought about how used to this she could get. How awesome it would be if she could kiss Beca—be kissed by Beca—like this on the regular.

 

It made her hips lift and she was instantly embarrassed; she hoped Beca didn’t notice but she knew she did by the way she huffed against Chloe’s lips and sat heavier on Chloe’s thighs, but she didn’t say anything.

 

She only kissed Chloe harder.

 

So stunned as she was that Beca was such an eager participant in what had begun as little more than a what-if, Chloe kept almost forgetting to kiss her back.

 

Almost.

 

Chloe relinquished her hold on Beca’s waist to reach for the zipper on her own coat; it was stifling and she unzipped it quickly, not thinking.

 

She felt Beca’s lips pull from hers and silence hung in the air between them until Chloe realized what she’d done was more than suggestive.

 

“Too warm,” she explained. “I wasn’t trying to—”

 

The sound of Beca’s own jacket’s zipper interrupted her and she felt the soft weight of it land atop her lower legs and feet as Beca shucked it and then they were kissing again.

 

Chloe had expected, in all her imagined scenarios, that when the day came (this day), she would be the one confident and in control.

 

She’d never been so thrilled to be incorrect.

 

She sighed as Beca’s hands returned to her neck, but only for a moment because then they were in her hair making her shiver.

 

She forgot to keep her own hands in check but she knew where they were. They were back on Beca’s waist, holding her, feeling the soft material of the lightweight sweater she’d seen Beca wearing before they left the house after lunch.

 

It was a bit thoughtless, she knew, to let her hands slip under the edge of that sweater but the craving to feel Beca’s skin under her fingertips snuck up on her quickly and had blinded her with its intensity.

 

Beca gasped so hard that the back of Chloe’s head knocked into the stone wall when she jerked back on reflex.

 

“I’m sorry,” Chloe said quickly as she yanked her hands back, trying to ignore the sting on her skull.

 

“It’s okay,” Beca said with a quiet laugh. “Your hands are fucking _freezing_.”

 

Chloe relaxed at Beca’s clarification and she felt Beca take her wrists and guide her hands right back where they’d been.

 

“Feels nice if I’m expecting it,” Beca whispered before leaning into Chloe to pick up where their kiss had been interrupted.

 

Beca’s back was soft and warm beneath Chloe’s hands and she couldn’t help but graze them up and down slowly, not quite high enough for her fingertips to reach the band of Beca’s bra which she was _painfully_ aware of in its proximity. That was too far to go, physically and figuratively, tonight. Maybe they would never go that far.

 

Chloe hoped they would.

 

The thought of what it would be like to unhook that bra and pull it down Beca’s arms made Chloe sit forward to take more control of things. Beca not shying away, not hesitating, even welcoming and encouraging Chloe’s advances finally helped Chloe to shake off her reservations. She kissed Beca. Hard.

 

It made Beca moan.

 

The sound echoed in the tiny cave and in Chloe’s ears. She needed to hear that again and she made it her new mission to draw it from Beca as many times as she could.

 

It happened again when she reclaimed one of her hands to reach up and frame Beca’s face, fingers twisting firmly in her hair to give it the tiniest of tugs to keep Beca in place while she licked into her mouth as slowly and sensually as she could.

 

Beca’s hands landed on her shoulders when she did that. They gripped her hard; even through her coat (which she desperately needed to get rid of), Chloe could feel each one of Beca’s fingers.

 

When she eased back, Beca pulled away and Chloe relished the sound of her heavy breathing. “You’re really good at that,” Beca said after audibly swallowing.

 

“So are you,” Chloe replied as she pulled Beca in again. She eased her aggression and felt Beca settle into her more deeply. The hands that were on her shoulders moved and for a second or two Chloe wasn’t sure what Beca was trying to do until she felt her coat slip off her shoulders.

 

 _Thank God._ Chloe sat forward away from the wall enough for Beca to help her pull her jacket down her arms and away from her. The chilly air was more than welcome. Beca’s hands were back as soon as the coat was gone, back on her shoulders, fingering the collar of the shirt Beca owned but was being worn by Chloe. Chloe’s heart beat even harder when she felt Beca’s touch dip, following the open sides of her collar down, fingernails grazing Chloe’s bare skin until they reached the highest button Chloe had opted to do up that morning.

 

It was the third one from the top, not counting the button on the collar itself.

 

Which meant Beca’s fingers were so, so close to—

 

Chloe’s breath rushed out of her when Beca’s fingertips brushed the swells of her cleavage. She felt her brain nearly short-circuit.

 

“Boob man,” she whispered between kisses once she could think again.

 

Beca hummed against her lips and seemed to be hesitating. Chloe could feel her touch trailing up and down the two sides of her shirt.

 

“It’s okay,” Chloe continued when Beca didn’t say anything. She arched her back, trusting that Beca would feel that and know what she meant.

 

She must have because Chloe felt her kiss falter and her hands stop moving. Chloe could almost hear the gears turning, and she was content to wait for Beca to process her permission. In fact, the paused kiss gave Chloe the opportunity to move her lips to Beca’s neck, instead.

 

It was clear Beca hadn’t expected that by the sound she made. It made Chloe smile against her skin as she alternated placing sweet, light kisses and hot, wet kisses along Beca’s neck.

 

When her tongue followed the curve of Beca’s jaw, Beca’s hands finally moved, their decision made, and Chloe didn’t bother to stop the groan that escaped when Beca’s hands slid down to frame Chloe’s breasts.

 

Her flannel and bra still separated them, but for as hot as it made Chloe, it might as well have been direct contact.

 

Her teeth nicked Beca’s skin and it was Beca’s turn to groan, hands becoming more confident in their exploration and it only made Chloe kiss her more feverishly, licking and pulling on her flesh until she knew she’d left a mark, then moving to do it all over again to the other side of Beca’s neck.

 

She heard Beca moan again, this time right in her ear before a tongue traced the shell of her ear as Beca shifted in her lap.

 

The movement made Chloe realize where her hands were. Because they were no longer stroking Beca’s back.

 

They were firmly on her ass, and they weren’t being very gentle with their hold.

 

But Beca wasn’t stopping her, or stopping at all; in fact, one of Beca’s hands was starting to slip into Chloe’s open shirt so Chloe lifted her head and found Beca’s lips again to kiss her hard enough to let her know (if she was even wondering) that Chloe was more than okay with whatever Beca wanted to do.

 

Chloe was moaning at the first graze of Beca’s fingers over the peak of her breast—barely clothed; the satin she wore did little to mute the sensation—when a loud snap and a blast of cold made them both jump.

 

“What the hell?” It felt like Beca had fallen backward; it seemed like she was sitting on the ground between Chloe’s ankles.

 

“The wind—” Chloe had to stop and dry her lips and swallow and try again. “The wind ripped the tarp down.”

 

Cold air was pouring in, whipping and swirling around them. Chloe could feel the spray of the snow that came with it and she rushed to fix it, having to detangle her legs from Beca’s to do it.

 

“Come help me,” she shouted back into the cave once she was on her feet outside.

 

There was enough light outside now, or maybe her eyes were so adjusted to the darkness she could see better in the dim, almost yellow glow of the city lights reflecting off the cloud cover. It wasn’t snowing anymore, but it was much windier than it had been.

 

Beca showed up a few seconds later and held the tarp along the ledge they’d rigged it from the first time while Chloe stacked the dislodged rocks on top of it to hold it down.

 

“Shit, it’s cold,” Beca said, raising her voice to be heard over the wind.

 

Chloe shivered as the wind blew right into and down her very open blouse; she wondered when Beca had undone another button on it because she didn’t remember that. But she definitely felt the wind against her ribs as she stretched and reached to add one more rock to the line of them to hopefully secure the tarp better.

 

“Go back in, go back in,” Chloe said with a gentle shove as soon as she was finished and followed Beca back into their makeshift shelter to seal it from the inside, tripping over discarded coats in the process.

 

Chloe tugged the one she’d landed on out from under herself; she wasn’t certain it was her own, but it didn’t really matter. She hugged it to her chest, not quite ready to go so far as to put it on, but she was pretty sure their moment of excitement was broken.

 

She heard Beca rubbing her hands together for warmth, and then, “What are you doing?”

 

“What do you mean, what am I doing?” Chloe asked, trying to keep her teeth from chattering.

 

“I thought we’re supposed to keep each other warm.”

 

Chloe could hear the slight tease in Beca’s tone and she smiled; it could have turned so awkward so quickly, two best friends getting hot and heavy in the dark, but Beca wasn’t letting it.

 

“You’re right,” Chloe answered. She tossed aside the coat and reached out to find Beca in the darkness.

 

Beca was doing the same and they found themselves wrapped up in a hug on their knees, cold hands on backs of necks and against bare stomachs making each other squirm and laugh. But as relieved as Chloe was that Beca wasn’t shying away from her after such a disarming encounter, she couldn’t bring herself to risk it by trying to start something up again. She’d gambled enough that night for a lifetime, and she’d won.

 

“If I was wearing a button-down,” Beca said into Chloe’s neck, “we could try that skin-on-skin thing. But I’m not taking this sweater off.”

 

Chloe’s knees gave out and she sat back on her heels, shocked that Beca would even suggest such a thing. She heard Beca laugh and felt her cool hands tickle their way from her lower back to her stomach before they moved to rest on Chloe’s thighs.

 

“We can do the kissing part again though?” Beca’s voice was quieter that time, betraying the confidence she’d just displayed. “But only for a little while. If we do much more of that…” She finished with a kind of grunt and a quick pat-a-pat on Chloe’s legs.

 

Chloe’s mind was muddled, but it sounded a lot like Beca was implying she was getting too turned on to keep going, and that only muddled her mind further. “Okay,” was about all she could manage to muster in response.

 

She could feel Beca’s hands on her legs, running over them to figure out her position until she felt the tiniest tug on the backs of her knees to get her to unfold them to sit down fully. She knew why, but it was still a thrill to feel Beca straddle her lap again. It was enough of a thrill to wake up her mind, in a weird dichotomy of clarity and hazy lust. “What I’d give to be able to see you right now,” she said as she ran her hands from Beca’s knees to her waist, then along her sides until she could loop her arms around her neck.

 

She felt Beca’s hands searching for and finding her face and hair and then felt her leaning close. “I should be the one saying that.” One of her hands dropped from her hair and fingertips trailed right down Chloe’s throat and between the valley of her breasts to her stomach.

 

Chloe bit her lip and tried not to moan. They hadn’t even started again and the chill was already gone from her skin.

 

Beca’s lips touched hers and it made her jump, unaware she was going to do that just then. She hadn’t even stopped biting her lip yet and Beca seemed to notice, the firmness of a smile pressing against Chloe’s lips. She released her lip to be able to kiss Beca properly and as soon as she did, it was pulled between Beca’s teeth.

 

She gasped and then Beca sat back.

 

“Five more minutes. Then we try to sleep.”

 

Chloe nodded, not really thinking about the fact that Beca couldn’t see her answer, and then she leaned in to kiss her again. Beca hadn’t been shy or hesitant about resuming so neither was Chloe, quickly slipping her tongue past Beca’s lips to seek out hers.

 

They didn’t have a timer, and Chloe definitely wasn’t counting to three hundred in her head to track Beca’s five-minute limit.

 

They did eventually, finally, regretfully slow to a mutual end with quiet sighs and bashful giggles. “Let’s try to get some sleep. Maybe it’s almost morning,” Chloe said once Beca was off her lap and propped up next to her again.

 

“I don’t think I can sleep,” Beca said as she tried to get comfortable like last time, squirming and prodding to lean into Chloe. “I’m all…” She didn’t finish her statement; she just exhaled loudly.

 

It made Chloe squeeze her thighs together; she was painfully turned on and there would be no relief tonight. Beca’s own admission made her laugh and she smiled to herself, resting her head against Beca’s. “I should apologize.”

 

“Dude, you seriously do not need to apologize for anything.”

 

Chloe hummed and found Beca’s hand to intertwine their fingers. “I do, though. The first rule of winter survival is staying warm and dry, and I only succeeded in one of those things.”

 

There was a long beat of silence, and then a groan of her name and a shove followed by a laugh. “Yeah, well,” Beca said, sounding like her chin was held high, “I guess that means I should apologize, too?”

 

Chloe laughed and brought their hands up so she could kiss Beca’s. “Definitely. But I guess I can forgive you.”

 

“The girls better love that fucking tree. If we can even find it and get it out of here tomorrow.”

 

“I’m sure they will.”

 

Beca hummed and was silent for a long while, until, quiet in the dark, she said, “Can we maybe do that again sometime?”

 

Chloe wondered if her face could handle how big she was smiling. She never could have imagined this to be the way her day would go today. She let her hand, the one wrapped around Beca’s waist to hold her close, slip under the edge of Beca’s sweater to rest against her bare stomach and she heard her shaky inhale at the contact.

 

“I’d like that,” she said as she kissed Beca’s hand again. “I’d like that a lot.”

* * *

 


End file.
